Today I welcome Andy Peloquin to my blog. He is on a blog tour promoting his new release The Last Bucelarii (Book 1): Blade of the Destroyer.
Interview
Do you write full-time? If so, what is your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I wish I could write fiction for a living! That’s the plan, but as of right now, I have a day job. Oddly enough, it also involves writing, though much more on the marketing/blogging side of things.
My schedule is pretty well-organized:
7 AM to 12 Noon — Day Job
Noon to 1 PM — Work on whatever project I’m immersed in.
1 to 2 PM — Gym time
2 to 4 PM — Lunch, cleanup, chores, etc.
4 to 5 PM — Preparing for the next day’s work
5 to 6:30 PM — More work on whatever project
6:30 on — Time with family/kids/relaxing
I manage to make time to write because I have a VERY understanding family. They make it easy (most of the time) to fit it in!
How much of yourself, your personality or your experiences, is in your books?
It’s funny, but I’ve never consciously tried to put myself into my characters. The main character from my first novel had a few of my traits (wise-cracking, irreverent, authority issues, etc.), but it was not a conscious thing.
I think all authors unconsciously add a bit of themselves into each book. After all, you’re the only one you truly understand, so you know how you think and feel. Every character we write has a small shard of ourselves in them, and that’s what makes them realistic characters.
What fuels you as an author to continue to write?
I am a VERY creative person. I have so many ideas and thoughts whirling around inside my head. Sadly, until I discovered writing, I had no way to let it out. I’m not artistic at all, and I can’t do any of the other tasks we associate with creativity.
But now that I have discovered writing, it’s hard to “turn off the tap” of creativity. If I’m not writing, I’m usually thinking about plot lines, creating new stories, or fine-tuning whatever project I’m working on next. I can’t turn off the creativity–and I don’t want to!
Please tell us about your current release.
The Last Bucelarii is a new dark fantasy/grimdark/Gothic series about a half-demon assassin. He has no memories of his early life, so he feels out of place, like an outcast from society. He uses his work to cover up his lack of belonging and his emptiness, but eventually he has to come to terms with it.
At the same time, he’s dealing with literal “voices in his head”. The psychological concept of a “split identity” or “dark passenger” in his mind is very real to him.
Basically, he’s a mixture of schizophrenic with sociopath, but his flaws and faults make him someone we can all relate to. It’s a dark, twisted tale, and one that I LOVED writing!
What inspired you to write this book?
For me, the most terrifying things in life are NOT monsters. Werewolves, vampires, Kaiju, horror novels, and all that stuff don’t really affect me. Instead, the things that really terrify me are the things HUMANS are capable of.
This story is exactly that–a look at what people will do to achieve what they want.
If this book is part of a series, what is the next book? Any details you can share?
I don’t want to spoil too much of the book, but I will share this: the Hunter loses the thing that makes him immortal/hard to kill. He literally has to face his own mortality, and it gives him a unique outlook on life and being human. He also has to make some tough decisions about what he’s willing to do in order to find answers about his past.
What was the most difficult thing/scene to write in this story?
The scene I found hardest to write was the raw, emotional scenes near the end of the second act. Some things (no spoilers!) happen to propel the Hunter to go on an all-out rampage against the villains, and there are a few scenes there where s**t gets very real for him. He realizes just how much it hurts to lose the things that he holds most dear.
If you could be one of the characters from any of your books, who would it be and why?
I would definitely be the Hunter. He is one bad-ass character. It would be amazing to feel that rush of being more than human, even with all its downsides.
Is there a specific place in the house (or out of the house) that you like to write?
I’m a bit OCD when it comes to my writing. I do my best work when sitting at my desk. I can’t really write if my computer is on my lap, so it’s hard to write on a couch. That being said, the day I buy a Barcalounger/La-Z-Boy is the day that I start learning how to write on my lap.
Do you have a specific snack that you have with you when you write?
I’ve gone through some interesting stages.
At one point, I wrote best with a cup of black or green tea. It has evolved to include:
- A White Russian (cocktail)
- Chocolate milk
- Cold chocolate
I like to have something sweet (such as a PBJ sandwich or a cookie) before I sit down to write. It helps to sort of set the “starting point” for my creative time.
Tell us a random fact about you that we never would have guessed.
I was born in Japan, my nationality is Canadian, my mother is French, my father is American, and I am currently residing in Mexico.
Book Blurb
The Last Bucelarii (Book 1): Blade of the Destroyer
The Hunter of Voramis is the perfect assassin: ruthless, unrelenting, immortal. Yet he is haunted by lost memories, bonded to a cursed dagger that feeds him power yet denies him peace of mind. Within him rages an unquenchable need for blood and death.
When he accepts a contract to avenge the stolen innocence of a girl, the Hunter becomes the prey. The death of a seemingly random target sends him hurtling toward destruction, yet could his path also lead to the truth of his buried past?
About the Author
Andy Peloquin–a third culture kid to the core–has loved to read since before he could remember. Sherlock Holmes, the Phantom of the Opera, and Father Brown are just a few of the books that ensnared his imagination as a child.
When he discovered science fiction and fantasy through the pages of writers like Edgar Rice Burroughs, J.R.R Tolkien, and Orson Scott Card, he was immediately hooked and hasn’t looked back since.
Andy’s first attempt at writing produced In the Days: A Tale of the Forgotten Continent. He has learned from the mistakes he made and used the experience to produce Blade of the Destroyer, a book of which he is very proud.
Reading—and now writing—is his favorite escape, and it provides him an outlet for his innate creativity. He is an artist; words are his palette.
His website is a second home for him, a place where he can post his thoughts and feelings–along with reviews of books he finds laying around the internet.
You can follow Andy on Twitter and Facebook.
You can purchase The Last Bucelarii (Book 1): Blade of the Destroyer on Amazon.
So let’s see…the cruise ship – The Carnival Magic – was excellent. I thought the pool seemed kind of small for that size ship (holds up to 6000 passengers and crew members), but it had a water park with two awesome slides, a 9-hole miniature golf course, a sky/rope course, a basketball court and at least six hot tubs.
The kids loved our room. We had a balcony and a connecting door to my parents’ room. Lexie enjoyed sleeping on the top bunk. And I never heard any whining about “getting dressed” for dinner. (No shorts or flip flops allowed in the dining room.) There were a few complaints about having their picture taken on the Elegant nights, but that was easily solved by bribing them with a trip to the onboard candy store.
Of our three stops – I can’t say which was the best. Even Jase said he couldn’t decide and loved all of them. If you asked Lexie her favorite part of the cruise, she would probably say getting chocolate fro-yo from the 24-hour ice cream and frozen yogurt place on the ship.
In Cozumel, we took the twister boat out to a private island. The twister boat does 360 degree turns, and you get a “Mexican shower” when the ocean spray hits you. The ride was wilder on the way back as we sat up front and were facing each other.
My parents joined us on the island but took the much slower catamaran. The food was good on the island, and the kids liked playing in the sand and ocean. There was a trampoline in the water. Lexie went out there with her dad and uncle, but Jase thought it was too far from the shore.
Our next stop was Grand Cayman. The ship was late getting in and due to some misinformation, instead of the 7 of us going on our dolphin excursion together, we got separated. My parents and brother made it to the 10 am trip but my husband, kids and I didn’t get off the ship until 10:40 and had to join the 11 am excursion. We went to the turtle farm briefly and then over to swim with the dolphins.
The next day, the kids and I went horseback riding in Jamaica with my parents. My husband and brother went zip lining and on a Jamaican bobsled. Their trip took all day while ours was only during the morning. This was my kids first time riding anything besides a pony. They did great. It was an hour-long ride through the Jamaican country-side, and we ended it with a brief ride/swim in the ocean.
Of course, I think Jase’s favorite thing was seeing the kittens at the place.
Into Another World 